AN appeal bid has been launched to save and replicate one of the oldest miners' banners in the North-East.

Trimdon Colliery Banner Group is seeking help to fund the project which will see the village's pit banner brought back to life and the fragment from the 124-year-old original preserved.

Local councillors Lucy Hovvels and Peter Brookes have each pledged £2,000 towards the work and Trimdon Parish Council has awarded £1,000 but the team is around £6,000 short.

Emma Shankland, of family-run Durham Bannermakers, will spend two to three months hand-painting the banner which has been designed using the surviving centre panel.

She said: "Each banner brings its challenges but this has been very different, just working from a small piece of the original. We have had to do a lot more research and work to come up with the whole."

The remaining fragment was found at Blackhall, near Hartlepool, by the late Ted Atherton who dedicated 50 years to researching its history.

On the front it shows three men, one of which was his grandfather, and on the back is a depiction of the Good Samaritan.

Mr Atherton, who gave the panel back to the community before his death earlier this year, first believed it originated from Deaf Hill Colliery.

However, a newspaper cutting found by banner group chair David Gibson revealed it belonged to Trimdon Colliery and recorded its unfurling in July 1892.

It provides a full description of the banner - giving the team the last piece of the jigsaw to allow them to design a more accurate replica.

Ms Shankland used the information to research and find the painting of the Good Samaritan used on the reverse.

The cutting states the three men are with a colliery agent in his office which has a window looking out onto the pit.

In an attempt to honour Mr Atherton for saving the centre panel, the team are considering depicting him as the agent.

They hope to have the front of the banner completed by this year's Durham Miners' Gala on Saturday, July 9.

It is expected to be displayed at Trimdon Colliery Working Men's Club on Friday, July 8.

Mr Gibson said when it was fully completed, it would be "one of, if not the oldest, replicas" at the gala.

Money raised will go towards the cost of making the banner and purchasing display cabinets to hold the replica and original.

For more information or to donate call banner group secretary Paul Trippett on 07515066017 or Mr Gibson on 07788588278.